On
September 28, 2010, the Census Bureau released a report explaining how
we lived as Americans in 2009. The report shows that for the
fifth
consecutive year, the majority of the nation's households are headed by
unmarried Americans and for the second year in a row most states fall into the
"unmarried majority" household category.

The
report lists 26 states in which most households are headed by unmarried
adults, up from only six states when the full
census was taken in 2000.

In
terms of raw numbers, more than 106 million American adults are
unmarried, up from 104 million in 2008.

Thomas F. Coleman,
Executive Director, Unmarried America September 28, 2010Unmarried America is an information service for unmarried and single
Americans.

American Community Survey

A New Approach for Timely Information

The American Community Survey (ACS) is a new nationwide survey designed
to provide communities a fresh look at how they are changing. It is intended
to eliminate the need for the long form in the 2010 Census. The ACS will
collect information from U.S. households similar to what was collected on
the Census 2000 long form, such as income, commute time to work, home value,
veteran status, and other important data. As with the official U.S. census,
information about individuals will remain confidential.

Three Million Households to be Surveyed

The ACS will collect and produce population and housing information every
year instead of every ten years. About three million households will be
surveyed each year. Collecting data every year will reduce the cost of the
official decennial census, and will provide more up-to-date information
throughout the decade about trends in the U.S. population at the local
community level. A similar program is planned for Puerto Rico.

Expanding Local Coverage

The ACS began in 1996 and has expanded each subsequent year. Data from
the 2004 ACS are available for over 800 geographies, including 241 counties,
206 congressional districts, most metropolitan areas of 250,000 population
or more, all 50 states, and the District of Columbia.

The Census Bureau plans to conduct the ACS in every county of the U.S.,
contacting the residents of three million housing units. Within three years,
data should be available for all areas of 20,000 or more. For small areas
less than 20,000, it will take five years to accumulate a large enough
sample to provide estimates with accuracy similar to the decennial census.